{"id":303910,"date":"2025-11-20T21:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303910\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T21:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:01:10","slug":"how-the-mask-made-adam-driver-take-on-kylo-ren-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303910\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Mask Made Adam Driver Take on Kylo Ren (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Driver\u2019s\u00a0conflicted\u00a0Star Wars figure, Ben Solo, has been in the news lately for all the wildest reasons<\/a> that it\u2019s almost easy to forget that next month marks ten years since he made his galactic debut with the release of\u00a0The Force Awakens<\/a>. Now, to celebrate that anniversary, a legendary\u00a0Star Wars publication<\/a> is going back to how the sequel trilogy began to shape its fascinating dark side foil\u2014and we\u2019ve got a look inside.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Force Awakens\u2018 anniversary next month, io9 has an exclusive look at a few pages from\u00a0Star Wars Insider\u2018s 10-year anniversary special covering the film\u2019s landmark moment. A hardcover, fully illustrated release, the magazine includes almost 100 pages of behind-the-scenes insight<\/a> and interviews about the making of a whole new era of Star Wars, from concept art that shaped the early phases of the sequel trilogy, to early scripting, all the way to shooting the movie and beyond.<\/p>\n

Just one of the new interviews included is, of course, all about the evolution of the film\u2019s antagonist, with Adam Driver discussing just why he wanted to take on a role like Kylo Ren<\/a> in the first place. The intrigue, it turns out, started with the mysterious mask that hid Ben Solo from the world and his pained parents, Han and Leia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWearing a mask is quite a challenging thing\u2026 [the prospect] was very scary and terrifying, so it wasn\u2019t immediately a \u2018yes,’\u201d Driver said of the offer to join Star Wars. \u201cActually, I thought about it quite a bit, even though it was kind of a no-brainer, but I didn\u2019t want to take it lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond Ren\u2019s connection to the broader\u00a0Star Wars world, Driver was fascinated by the physicality of the character, and how much of Ben Solo\u2019s personality had been shaped, almost subsumed even, by the costume that was Kylo Ren. \u201cThere are so many layers to Kylo Ren anyway, it was interesting to find out who he was with the mask on or with the mask off, and that was part of our initial conversations,\u201d Driver continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something empowering for someone to completely hide themselves in a mask that is so intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perhaps no surprise then that a decade later\u2014and two more movies, including an untimely redemption and sudden death<\/a>\u2014Driver remains fascinated by the potential of who Ben Solo could be\u2026 a potential that, given everything we\u2019ve heard lately, might go unseen for a good while yet after Disney put the brakes<\/a> on\u00a0The Hunt for Ben Solo. While we ponder what could\u2019ve been, however, ponder what was in our full excerpt from\u00a0Star Wars Insider\u2018s interview with Driver below.<\/p>\n

\"Extract4a\"\u00a9 Titan\/Lucasfilm \"Extract4b\"\u00a9 Titan\/Lucasfilm <\/p>\n

Star Wars Insider Presents: The Force Awakens 10 Year Anniversary Special is available now.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Driver\u2019s\u00a0conflicted\u00a0Star Wars figure, Ben Solo, has been in the news lately for all the wildest reasons that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[35657,88,206,5295,157871,63088],"class_list":["post-303910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-adam-driver","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-star-wars","tag-star-wars-insider","tag-star-wars-the-force-awakens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}